Optical dating of relict sand wedges and composite-wedge pseudomorphs in Flanders, Belgium

We report on quartz Optically Stimulated Luminescence (OSL) dating of the infill of 14 relict sand wedges and composite-wedge pseudomorphs at 5 different sites in Flanders, Belgium. A laboratory dose recovery test indicates that the single-aliquot regenerative-dose (SAR) procedure is suitable for our samples (measured to a given dose ratio 0.980 ± 0.005; n =139). Completeness of resetting of the wedge infill of two samples was confirmed by single-grain analyses. The suite of optical ages indicates that repeated thermal contraction cracking, degradation and infilling with wind-blown sediment appear to have been commonplace in Flanders during the Late Pleniglacial (Oxygen Isotope Stage 2; OIS2); more specifically, around the Last Glacial Maximum (LGM, ∼21 kyr ago) and the transition period between the LGM and the start of the Lateglacial (∼15 kyr ago). Optical dating at one site has revealed two significantly older wedge levels, the younger inset into the older; the younger wedge has an age of 36 ± 4 kyr (Middle Pleniglacial; OIS3), the older wedge 129 ± 11 kyr, which points to formation during the Late Saalian (OIS6). Our OSL ages of the wedges and host sediments bracket formation of the BGB (Beuningen Gravel Bed: a widespread deflation horizon in northwestern Europe) at between ∼15 and 18 kyr; this is in good agreement with previous OSL dating studies. We conclude that optical dating using quartz SAR OSL establishes an absolute chronology for these periglacial phenomena and allows secure palaeoenvironmental reconstructions to be made.     

Weichselian sediment succession at Ruunaa, Finland, indicating a Mid-Weichselian ice-free interval in eastern Fennoscandia

Core material obtained from three boreholes was studied from the Ruunaa area, Finnish northern Karelia, in order to reveal the Late Pleistocene environmental history of eastern Finland. Conventional litho- and biostratigraphical methods were used and suitable sediment samples were dated using quartz optically stimulated luminescence. The results indicate that two till units were deposited by two separate Weichselian ice advances into the area. The first advance took place prior to 52 kyr ago, most likely during the early Middle Weichselian, while the second is thought to have taken place during the Late Weichselian after 25 kyr ago. The sediment succession at Ruunaa therefore indicates a Middle Weichselian ice-free period around 50–25 kyr ago in the eastern part of Fennoscandia.     

What status for the Quaternary?

The status of the Quaternary, long regarded as a geological period effectively coincident with the main climatic deterioration of the current Ice Age, has recently been questioned as a formal stratigraphic unit. We argue here that it should be retained as a formal period of geological time. Furthermore, we consider that its beginning should be placed at the Gauss-Matuyama magnetic chron boundary at about 2.6 Ma, rather than at its current position at about 1.8 Ma. The Quaternary would be formally subdivided into the Pleistocene and Holocene epochs. The global chronostratigraphical correlation table proposed is enclosed at the back of this issue.     

Classification and analysis of palynodebris from the Palaeocene sediments of the Forties Field

Sedimentary organic matter behaves as sedimentary particles and this study attempts to interpret its occurrence in the Palaeocene sands and mudstones of the Forties Field of the North Sea. New nomenclature and classification of this palynodebris are presented and are used to make quantitative counts of the palynodebris from nearly 600 samples of known sedimentary character. The new categories are further refined by objective testing of the data by Principal Components Analysis and Cluster Analysis. It is argued that two types of sedimentary organic matter are of particular value because they are preferentially deposited in different environments: palynowafers are most commonly deposited in the submarine fan lobes and channel complexes and amorphous matter occurs mostly in the lower energy basin plain sediments.     

Luminescence and radiocarbon ages from laminated Lateglacial aeolian sediments in western Jutland, Denmark

The chronology of two adjacent Danish Lateglacial sedimentary sequences with well-developed layering of alternating aeolian sand and organic matter has been investigated using both Optically Stimulated Luminescence (OSL) and Accelerator Mass Spectrometry (¹⁴C). Both sites are known to cover at least the period Bølling to Younger Dryas, with the so-called older and younger coversand types present at both localities. Typical overall uncertainties with the OSL data are about two to five times those of the ¹⁴C ages, but both data sets contain clear outliers. When these are excluded, OSL ages appear to be systematically slightly younger than the ¹⁴C ages, by about 10%; possible reasons for this are discussed. The investigation stresses the importance of making several age estimates from any single locality. The older coversand type makes up the pre-Bølling and most, or possibly all, of the Bølling (which also has the highest net accumulation rate). Deposits of the younger coversand type are dominant in layers younger than the Bølling.     

Eurasian ice-sheet interaction in northwestern Russia throughout the late Quaternary

Sediment successions from the Kanin Peninsula and Chyoshskaya Bay in northwestern Russia contain information on the marginal behaviour of all major ice sheets centred in Scandinavia, the Barents Sea and the Kara Sea during the Eemian-Weichselian. Extensive luminescence dating of regional lithostratigraphical units, supported by biostratigraphical evidence, identifies four major ice advances at 100-90, 70-65, 55-45 and 20-18 kyr ago interbedded with lacustrine, glaciolacustrine and marine sediments. The widespread occurrence of marine tidal sediments deposited c. 65-60 kyr ago allows a stratigraphical division of the Middle Weichselian Barents Sea and Kara Sea ice sheets into two shelf-based glaciations separated by almost complete deglaciation. The first ice dispersal centre was in the Barents Sea and thereafter in the Kara Sea. It is possible to extract both flow patterns from ice marginal landforms inside the southward termination. Accordingly, it is proposed that the Markhida line and its western continuation are asynchronous and originate from two separate glaciations before and after the marine transgression. The marine sedimentation occurred during a eustatic sea-level rise of up to 20 m/1000 yr, i.e. the Mezen Transgression. We speculate that the rapid eustatic sea-level rise triggered a collapse of the Barents Sea Ice Sheet at the MIS (Marine Isotope Stage) 4 to 3 transition. This is motivated by lack of an early marine highstand, the timing of events, and the marginal position of Arkhangelsk relative to open marine conditions.